


Absorption

by Lanerose



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Gen, Hikago Team Deathmatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 23:21:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1666241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanerose/pseuds/Lanerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isumi travels many miles before he ever arrives in China.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absorption

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rex_sun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rex_sun/gifts), [Phnx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phnx/gifts).



> “Winners have to absorb losses.” - Ice-T

His mother had long since cleared dinner when Isumi Shinichiro opened the door to the house that late summer evening. He could hear her shuffling about in the kitchen as he gently closed the door and slipped out of his shoes and into his house slippers.

“Shin-kun?” she called over the sound of clanging pots.

“I’m home,” he replied quietly.

He went straight for the stairs and up to his room. It looked exactly the same and completely different from how it had looked that morning. The goban stared at him as Shinichiro sighed. Narusawa-sensei would be so disappointed.

He didn’t know how long he lay there before there was a soft tap at the door and his mother poked her head in.

“Shin-kun?” she said, and Shinichiro forced his lips to quirk up into a tiny smile. “I thought you might be hungry...”

She pushed the door open more widely, revealing a tray with a plate of plum rice balls and tea. Shinichiro sat up as she settled the tray onto his desk.

“Thank you,” he said, rising to his feet and heading to the desk. His mother caught his arm as he walked past, reached up to touch his cheek. Her hand was soft on his face, but Shinichiro could meet her eyes. She patted it lightly before letting him go.

“Next year for sure, Shin-kun,” she said as she slipped out the door.

It would have been more comforting, Shinichiro thought as he took a bite, if she hadn’t said the same thing the previous year.

***

“Hello, you have reached Isumi Shinichiro. I am unavailable to take your call at this time. Please leave a message after the tone.”

BEEEEEEEEEEP!

“Isumi-kun, it’s Narusawa, I just heard the news. Please give me a call when you have moment.”

“Isumi-san, this is Shinoda, from the Go Institute. Thank you for your message that you will no longer be attending the insei sessions. Please know that you will still be welcome to join us at any time prior to the next exam should you choose to come. I... hope to see you again.”

“Isumi-san, it’s Nase. Shinoda-sensei told us that you weren’t coming to insei sessions. I just wanted to say... well... please give me a call if you’d ever like to play. See you soon!”

“Isumi-kun, it’s Narusawa again. I received your email about taking a break from the study group. Please call me when you’re ready to start again.”

“Isumi, your voice message is too polite! Look, I know the exam was tough and I’m sorry it didn’t happen this year, but the others told me that you’re not showing up for the insei sessions any more. You can’t just give up like this! Call me and we’ll play, or go out, or something. Don’t forget, Isumi, I know where you live! Call me!”

***

Shinichiro stayed mostly in his room for the next two days - the one real advantage of summer being that now, he had nowhere that he needed to be. He came down for breakfast and dinner each day, though, mostly to keep his mother from worrying.

He only checked his email once. He opened each of the condolence notes he had received (one each from the Go Institute (an official notification), from Narusawa-sensei, and surprisingly, a personal note from Shinoda-sensei). He sent simple but polite replies to Narusawa-sensei and Shinoda-sensei, including in each message a notification that he would not be attending further go lessons at the current time. Shinichiro also thanked Shinoda for all his kind guidance through the years, because his age and his will had at last ended their relationship as teacher and student.

On the third day, Shinichiro began to plan.

His exam scores had always been good, and there was still plenty of time to file applications to the major universities. He would have to study alone, because none of the cram schools would take a student on this late in the game. Still, cram school wasn’t everything, just like being an insei didn’t necessarily mean - well.

That only really left the question of what to study.

“Father,” he asked over dinner, “could you tell me more about your job?”

His parents exchanged a definitive look, but his father obliged Shinichiro nevertheless.

Not too long after that, school was back in session. His classmates surprised Shinichiro with their enthusiasm for his abandonment of go.

“Isumi-san, would you like to come study with us this afternoon?” Tomoka Miho asked on the first afternoon. She was a pretty girl, with long brown hair and not inconsiderable... assets. “Aya-chan made snacks.”

Aya-chan, a similarly attractive young woman with shorter, darker hair and bright eyes blushed but smiled. “We’d love it if you could come.”

Shinichiro surprised himself by accepting, both that and the other invitations that came after it. He played football with his guy friends on Saturday mornings, and occasionally went on dates (study or otherwise) with his classmates, and if he didn’t hear from the other members of the go world, that only made sense because he wasn’t in their world any more. Even Waya, for all his early threats, seemed willing to leave him alone.

By late September, Shinichiro had come to realize that go was not willing to chase him. Maybe, then, he was right to let it go.

***

The board in his room grew dusty from disuse. He could see the filigreed layer of powder on it, the way it dulled the wood and prevented it from catching the light. He wondered if his skills had dulled similarly.

“Shin-kun,” his mother said hesitantly one day, “do you think maybe you should donate the board to -“

He couldn’t see his own face, but his mother’s silence gave him some idea of what it must have looked like.

She never mentioned it again, even as the dust grew steadily thicker.

***

A surprising early snow fell on a mid-November afternoon when Shinichiro found himself at loose ends, his school friends otherwise engaged in cram school. He walked through the snow aimlessly, enjoying the cool feel of it as it landed on his face. Times changed, moving inevitably forward. He, too, was moving forward.

When he paused to fix his scarf against the cold, Shinichiro was surprised to realize that he was standing across the street from the Nine Stars Club. He shouldn’t have been - it was, after all, on the route that he had walked to and from school for several years, even if it wasn’t on his current usual route. The sign out front had gathered a light dusting of snow, but the cheerful colors of it shone brightly through.

Without thinking about it, Shinichiro allowed his feet to carry him across the street. He stood in the doorway, hesitating, and had just started turning to leave when the door burst open, knocking him backward into a puddle.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” exclaimed a loud, familiar voice. “Here, let me help you - Shin-chan?!”

Shinichiro looked up at the tall woman with the obnoxiously bright lipstick and smiled in spite of himself as he reached a hand up. “Hello, Suzuki-san.”

“Shin-chan!” Suzuki exclaimed, pulling the door open and dragging him inside. “Everyone, Shin-chan’s back!”

“Eh? Isumi-san?”

“It’s really him!”

“Isumi’s here?”

“Hey, Akota-kun, Shin-kun came back!”

The players swarmed around him, the room warm and inviting after the chill. Takahashi-san, the owner, appeared to drag his coat from him, offering him a towel and a cup of tea in its place as the other players greeted him, patting him on the back and standing close.

“It’s good to see you all again,” Shinichiro said as they collectively steered him into a seat at a nearby table. He took a tentative sip of his tea. “How have you been?”

“Never mind us, what about you?” Watanabe-san, a tall, stout man exclaimed. A round chorus of agreement sprung up around them.

Shinichiro shrugged, his shoulders tightening. “Oh, just school, you know. Getting ready for entrance exams.”

“Entrance exams? What are you -?”

“Never mind that!” Suzuki interrupted, waving the others off as she dropped into the chair across from him. “Shin-chan, you owe me a game! I insist that you play it with me.”

“Suzuki-san -“ Shinichiro began, brow furrowing. He paused.

“Don’t worry about being on leave, Shin-chan,” Takahashi-san said quickly in the silence that followed, “it’s okay to just visit this one time, all right?”

With everyone staring at him expectantly, Shinichiro couldn’t find the words to refuse. Instead, he shrugged to himself, bowed to his opponent, and said, “Please.”

“Please.”

The stones were cool against his fingers, a familiar chill of polished stone in a perfectly familiar weight, familiar even after all this time. Shinichiro found that he could respond to the joseki laid out before him easily. He noticed somewhere in the midgame that the other club members had not shuffled back to their own boards, but instead stood around them, watching the stones flow onto the board.

In the end, Suzuki-san smiled as she bowed to him and said, “I have nothing.”

“Thank you for the game,” he replied.

“Thank you for the game.”

Applause sprung up around them, and cheers of, “Go Isumi!” “Way to go, Shin-kun!” “Still one of the best, aren’t you, Shin-san?” “Welcome back!” sprang out. Shinichiro looked around, twisting his head from one side to another, then froze as he caught sight of a familiar figure.

“Narusawa-sensei!” Shinichiro exclaimed. He half-rose from his seat, bowing, as his teacher waived the gesture off. Narusawa approached the board, standing behind Shinichiro to study the stones.

“A good game,” he said eventually, laying a hand on Shinichiro’s shoulder. Shinichiro looked up wonderingly into his face. He glanced around, seeing the other members of the club, all smiling, even Suzuki. He looked down, blushing.

It was there, surrounded by those smiling faces, so happy to see him again, that a thought came to Shinichiro.

Maybe go didn’t need to chase him.

Perhaps go had simply known that he would always come back.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as part of Hikago Deathmatch Team Edition, for Kawahagi Middle School =D


End file.
